Help me get my pool clear please

[rick6668]

Yes, it will come down with sun exposure and will be used up fighting whatever is in your pool.

Don't add any more bleach until the FC drops below 15 and maintain at 15.

Pretend you just checked FC and it is 10, how much bleach do you need to add to bring it to 15?
Use the pool calculator: http://www.poolcalculator.com/
Take time to learn how to use this, you need to set pool size, current and target FC levels and CYA level, it will tell you how much to add. Go do this now and report back what you think you would need to add under this scenario.

 

[jblizzle]

Rick appears to have you covered.

The thing you are missing is that we NEVER recommend blindly adding anything to the pool (as pool stores generally recommend). You should always test and add only what is needed to achieve your desired result.

You are learning and will soon realize that maintaining the pool is not as hard as you initially thought.

 

[ajwhit]

I believe I would need to add...217 oz of 8.25% bleach

 

[rick6668]

I got 211 oz, but close enough.

When you test again and get a FC reading below 15, use the calculator to add more bleach.

You're getting it.

 

[jblizzle]

I believe I would need to add...217 oz of 8.25% bleach

Did you set the size to 28000 gallons?
And the FC Now to 10 and the FC target to 15?
And the % to 8.25?

You should get exactly 211 oz unless one of those inputs was different

 

[karmabiker]

so from here what? monitor FC and maintain at 15

EXACTLY!

 

[ajwhit]

would doing any type of aerating help?

 

[jblizzle]

Help what? All aerating really does is raise the pH.

 

[PridgNYC]

Nope, You need to test often, ideally as often as every couple hours, but you will soon figure out the rate of consumption and be able to overshoot if you need time off from adding chlorine and testing; use the pool calculator to add enough chlorine to maintain the level at 15 or above as much as possible.

 

[rick6668]

Did you test this morning? What level is the FC/CC at?

 

[ajwhit]

Tested FC first thing this morning, it was 12, so I added 1 jug of bleach. Water is now a "cloudy blue." Just retested everything and this is what I got.

15 FC
1 CC
80 TA
120 CH
<20 CYA (I believe I was told not to worry about this for a week or so, I also have some stabilizer in sock at return jet)
7.2 pH

far as I can see according to the pool calculator and these results, I only need to add 1.3 boxes of borax (they are calling for rain here this afternoon, the rain water will raise ph, should I be concerned with dumping in the borax?)

I will test FC/CC again in an hour or so and go from there. I don't fully understand the FC/CC total chlorine thing. what should a good reading be?

Thanks for all the help, my kids are getting anxious... it's been in the 86 degree range lately and humid.

 

[rick6668]

Your pH and TA are fine, you do not need to add any borax at this time.
With the stabilizer in a sock, assume your CYA is 40. (That's what we said before and retest in a weeks time.

You're doing great.
Read the shock process again pool-school/shocking_your_pool
The more times you read it, the easier it will be to understand. I had my first pool installed 1 year ago and now I'm giving advice.

The FC is how much Free Chlorine is in your water. You want this to stay at shock level, for you 15 until you pass the overnight loss test pool-school/overnight_fc_test

This level of FC will keep fighting the algae in your pool and not allow it to increase.

The CC is how much combined chlorine is in your water. When this is greater than 0, it shows that your chlorine is fighting something (algae likely).

Also, based on those latest tests, I see no reason you can't swim in your pool. Swimming at shock level is OK, Don't let it go too far over shock level for swimming. Any other experts disagree? Feel free to chime in.

 

[rick6668]

Also, you should only test the FC/CC for a while, you don't need to test pH, TA, CH, CYA for now. You're just wasting reagent.
The pH test gets unreliable once the FC level gets high, I wouldn't test it again until you are done shocking and then adjust from there if needed.

You have a vinyl liner, the CH test is really not important. I tested mine once last year and once this year just to have a record of it. If you're not adding Calcium to the pool (Some Pucks) then it won't really change much.

 

[ajwhit]

just tested again

FC 13
CC 1

gonna add about 2 -3 quarts of bleach. water still cloudy, but love not seeing the green

I can't thank you all enough for walking me through this process...I've recommended this site and the testing kits at least 5 times in the past week.

 

[rick6668]

Just keep on going. You're doing great. It could still be a couple days before you are in the clear. The more you test and can bring it back to shock level the faster your pool will be cleared up.

Nice job so far on sticking with it.

I'm just returning the favor from some folks helping me out last year on here. Pay it forward.